|
Muzio, Giovanni
(b Milan, 12 Feb 1893; d Milan, 21 May 1982). Italian architect. He was the son of the architect Virginio Muzio (d 1904), and, after graduating from the Politecnico di Milano (1915), he served during World War I, returning in 1919. He set up practice in Milan in 1920. He was the most influential member of the group of Italian architects associated with the NOVECENTO ITALIANO, both through his numerous buildings and through his writing, although it was not until 1931 (in an article in Dedalo) that he expressed the movement’s architectural aims. Muzio was invited to design a vast residential building in the Quartiere Moscova in Milan, perhaps the best-known example of Novecento architecture, the Ca’ Brutta (completed 1922). Its unflattering name arose from the eccentric display of mannerist intricacy using diverse classical elements across the surfaces of five-storey façades: arches (real and applied), shallow niches, brackets, mock balconies, deep and shallow window recesses, decoratively framed and pedimented or with emblazoned heads, all set out in bands of stucco in restrained colours above a travertine ground floor. The vast site was divided into unequal parts by a new road, which Muzio bridged with a simplified Palladian archway leading into the inner courtyard. A series of buildings in the same vein followed: the Milan Tennis Club (1923–9), the headquarters of the Banca Bergamasca (1924–7; for illustration see FASCISM), Bergamo, and a beautifully proportioned house on Via Giuriati (1930), Milan. Also in this early period Muzio was successful in urban development competitions (Milan, 1926, second premium, and Bolzano, 1930, first prize). He was also responsible for exhibition buildings (with Gio Ponti and Mario Sironi) for the Triennale of 1930.
|
|
There are more than 45,000 articles in The Grove Dictionary of Art.
To access the rest of this article, including the bibliography, subscribe to
www.groveart.com.
To find out more about this subject, click on a related article below and
subscribe to www.groveart.com
|
